Some of the lowest rates of improved sanitation in the world are found in three project countries: Benin (13 percent), Côte d’Ivoire (14 percent), and Ghana (28 percent). Each country lacks affordable options for safe disposal and treatment of human waste. Densely populated areas, such as slum communities, have limited space to construct household toilets and land disputes coupled with a lack of urban planning complicate this problem. Most urban families desire a toilet, often to protect the privacy and safety of women and children in the household, but there are few affordable sanitation options that suit their needs. Disconnected supply chains make products expensive and difficult to acquire, and service providers often fail to provide quality materials. The rapidly growing urban populations of each country will continue to put further pressure on already strained sanitation infrastructure.
The West Africa Sanitation Service Delivery (SSD) Project began with an analysis of the urban sanitation markets in the three project countries to identify constraints and potential areas for intervention. Guided by the findings of the analysis, SSD developed sets of interventions – called Sanitation Delivery Models (SDMs) – to catalyze the creation of a more efficient and inclusive sanitation market system that is attractive to consumers and generates profits for local micro-enterprises. The project has three main objectives:
- Increase access to improved sanitation.
- Increase safe containment and transport of human waste.
- Share learning on market-based approaches to the provision of sanitation services throughout West Africa.
